4

What is the best GRID and TREE control for DELPHI win32. It should also be DB-Aware. I have use the DBGrid but it is very limited and lakes a lot of new features DevExpress as an impressive collection of tools and features, but a very high price. What is your GRID/TREE of choice its pros and cons, and of course its price tag.

Jonathan Leffler
  • 730,956
  • 141
  • 904
  • 1,278
Jlouro
  • 4,515
  • 9
  • 60
  • 91
  • "The Best" for one situation may not be in another. Grids designed for editing data often do a sub-optimal job when it comes to rendering a tabular display read-only information; a tree that works well for 10 leaves may be unwieldy when tasked with the display of 10,000. What are YOUR requirements? – Shog9 Jan 25 '09 at 23:35
  • Just general use, with moderate content, nothing close to 10,000. – Jlouro Jan 25 '09 at 23:46

5 Answers5

16

Your are asking for the best and rulling out the #1 ;).

For the tree the "best" is http://www.soft-gems.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=33, because is virtual, is very flexible and very fast. But is harder to use (ie. in comparation with a regular tree control).

With that is possible emulate a grid. Also is free & have source. As far I know, is the best tree control across any language & plataform in this universe.

mamcx
  • 15,916
  • 26
  • 101
  • 189
  • I think this is a fair answer, but would emphasize that there is a _serious learning curve_ with Virtual Treeview. You can generate a fantastic, flexible GUI with this component. – Argalatyr Jan 26 '09 at 04:47
  • I would also say that you could use Virtual Treeview and make an even more robust app by separating the GUI from the DB-handling code. – Argalatyr Jan 26 '09 at 04:50
  • 1
    +1 for "best tree control across any language & plataform in this universe" – Mawg says reinstate Monica Jan 31 '12 at 09:04
6

Well, I have the DevExpress VCL subscription, and although the initial price seems high it is good value and the renewal is sensible. The grid will do all you ever want (and more) though you do have to spend some time learning it so you can understand where the features are controlled. The advantage of the subscription is that you get pre-release betas, and you get everything which means that I've been able to use controls I'd never justify individually but they are in my toolkit so I can use them.

mj2008
  • 6,647
  • 2
  • 38
  • 56
  • 1
    QuantumGrid gives you most functionality, but there are room for improvements, though. Lookup-columns in non-db-grids and customizeable incremental search are both areas that I have been struggling with. Also, the component is complex, and it can be hard to find the right settings/events – Vegar Jan 26 '09 at 10:00
  • On the plus site (and very imnportant in my option), they have a very, very good support department, giving you sample projects if needed. I can't tell the number of times they helped with problems I would never would have found otherwise (or I would have found them, but after a long period of study). – Edelcom Jan 12 '10 at 09:07
  • Just curious: what grid and tree components do you finally choose ? I have a DEvExpress VCL subscription myself so I have a tree and grid from the same vendor. But I am just wondering what other programmars choose. – Edelcom Jan 12 '10 at 09:09
3

TMS Component Pack have a good Grid Components and a lot of other, it's the main competitor to DevExpress components

also if you want a nice,light and fast grid have a look at NextGrid

Mohammed Nasman
  • 10,992
  • 7
  • 43
  • 68
  • While the TMS grid may be the main competitor, it's not even close in functionality. But it's cheaper, and much less complex. I think it's nice for smaller things, and when you want 'grid-like' behaviour non-tabular data. – Vegar Jan 26 '09 at 10:03
3

VirtualTreeView has been mentioned here already. While it is quite flexible and I am currently using it, there are a few things I don't like about it:

  • It is no longer actively maintained by its original author Mike Lischke and it is not clear whether there is somebody else in charge now.
  • It has quite a steep learning curve. Be prepared to study the provided example applications closely, otherwise you will not be able to use it. It comes with online help but that help is even worse than that of Delphi 2005. Yes, it does cover most of the properties, methods and classes, but mostly the help is not very "helpful". (I am aware that I have no right to demand good online help for a free tool, but it is a factor nonetheless.)
  • I don't like the way the virtualization is actually done. I would have done it differently. (I don't know whether my way would have been better, though. Your mileage may vary.)
  • It feels stuffed with too many features. I would have liked something more lightweight.
dummzeuch
  • 10,975
  • 4
  • 51
  • 158
0

I have used in my application ElTree by LMD Innovative for almost 10 years. It is part of their excellent ElPack suite of tools. They recently included a version called ElXTree which has some extras. They are both DB-aware.

I was considering switching to Virtual Treeview a while back. I compared the two, and could not find anything I needed that Virtual Treeview did that ElTree didn't. ElTree has a Virtual mode as well if you want it.

ElTree does things a bit differently and than Virtual Treeview. Compare the two before you decide, or even try them both first. You may find you like the way one works better than the other.

Advantages of ElTree over Virtual Treeview:

  • It is still being actively maintained and they have good support on their Newsgroups. Whereas Virtual Treeview is now Open Source and the original author Mike Lischke is no longer actively working on it.

  • ElPack already has their Delphi 2009 compatible version out. In fact, they've had it out for several months already. Virtual Treeview does not have a version out for Delphi 2009 yet.

Disadvantage of ElTree:

  • It is not free, but it is less expensive than DBGrid. And you may find the other ElPack VCL Components (all Unicode enabled) to be useful for your product as well.

Version 7.0 (for Delphi 2009) of LMD ElPack is 159 Euros. If you decide to buy it, pay in Euros because ShareIt charges exorbitant exchange rates.

Also see my answer to: Delphi Active Commercial Components.

Community
  • 1
  • 1
lkessler
  • 19,819
  • 36
  • 132
  • 203
  • Virtual Treeview was updated to support Delphi 2009 on release, it's very widely used so many have an interest in keeping it working. – PetriW Jan 26 '09 at 11:06
  • The latest version of Virtual Treeview available at Soft-Gems is 4.7.0 dated 24 Aug 2008. That version is NOT Delphi 2009 ready. Their announcement said it is "ready for the latest version of Delphi" which then was Delphi 2007. I have read on Embarcadero forums that 4.7.0 won't compile under 2009. – lkessler Jan 26 '09 at 18:35
  • 1
    Update: VirtualTreeView is now hosted at Google Code and is actively maintained - http://code.google.com/p/virtual-treeview/ – Leonardo Herrera Sep 27 '10 at 15:21